UN investigates killing of MINUSMA commander

The United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has launched investigations into the killing of a commander and an army doctor by a Chadian soldier at the UN base in Kidal.

The suspect, who was reportedly unhappy with working conditions for Chadian soldiers, according to a MINUSMA source, had started an “insurrection” against the contingent’s top brass the previous evening before shooting the two men dead.

Chadian soldiers have reportedly abandoned post twice in the last year in northern Mali over unpaid salaries.

“The peacekeeper decided he wasn’t going to stand for how his superior spoke to him after being accused of some pretty serious things,” the MINUSMA source told AFP.

The man was arrested, along with a dozen other Chadian soldiers accused of “disobedience”, at the contingent’s base in Kidal.

Chad is a key contributor to the UN mission in Mali, which currently has 9,000 troops on the ground.

Chad contributed 2,000 soldiers to the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), MINUSMA’s predecessor. They were at the forefront of a French-led military intervention launched in January 2013 to oust Islamist rebels who had taken over vast stretches of the north in the chaos following a coup.

The Chadian government has previously accused the UN of neglecting its troops in northern Mali, saying they are placed in great danger, and lack logistics and adequate food supplies.

International troops have been in Mali since Islamist forces seized the north of the country four years ago.